Reducing-valve for automobile-torpedoes.



W. DIETER.

REDUCKNG VALVE FOR AUTOMOBILE TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.20.19I6.

Patented Jan. 2, 191?.

FTQ;

WILLIAM DIETER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO E. W. BLISS COMPANY,OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

REDUCING-VALVE FOR AUTOMOBILE-TORPEDOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1917.

Application filed September 20, 1916. Serial No. 121,148.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM DIETER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inReducing-Valves for Automobile- Torpedoes, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to automobile torpedoes in which the air pressurefrom the compressed air reservoir or flask is reduced first through aninitial pressure-reducing valve and then by a secondary or finalpressure-reducing valve to bring it to the required pressure at which itis delivered to the turbine or other engine for propelling the torpedo.

The object of the invention is to economize by preventing waste ofcompressed air and to'guard against injury to the torpedo by preventingthe possibility of an excessive pressure of air reaching vulnerableportions of the apparatus.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section of the torpedo,the parts being shown ina somewhat diagrammatic arrangement in order toillustrate-their. connections; Fig. 2 is avertical' transversesection-of the torpedo showing the reducing valves and heater, and theirrespective connections. p

The torpedo shown in Fig. 1 has inaddition to the usual air flask orcompressed air reservoir A, a fuel reservoir B designed to containalcohol or other liquid fuel, and a water reservoir C. These areconstructed in a manner shown in United States Patents Nos. 1,022,486,dated April 9, 1912, and

1,125,97 9, dated January 26, 1915. The torpedo shown has primary andsecondary pressure-reducing valves constructed generally after themanner of those set forth in Patent No. 1,136,660, dated April 20, 1915.

. These patents may be referred to for a more complete illustration ofcertain features herein shown, or whlch may be applicable in connectionwith the present invention.

outset may, for example, be in the neighborhood of 2800 pounds persquare inch, and

which during the run of the torpedo falls to a minimum of perhaps 700 or800 pounds) to an intermediate pressure which may approximate, forexample, 600 pounds. The

- secondary valve reduces the air pressure from this intermediatepressure to the pressure at which the air is fed to the turbine orengine,-and which pressure varies according to the speed at which thetorpedo is to be driven, which, as a working example, may be assumed tobe 400 pounds per square inch. The air at this latter pressure passesthrough a duct 0? to the air heater or combustion chamber G (commonlycalled superheater), in which it is heated by the burning of alcohol orother liquid fuel therein, and its volume thereby increased. Commonly,also, water is sprayed into this heater which by the heat is convertedinto steam, which further increases thevolume of the efliuent mixture.From the heater the heated gaseous mixture passes out through a pipe 6and is led to the engine or motor. In the construction shown in Fig. 2the pipe 6 leads to-the nozzle 7 of the turbine (H in Fig. 1), thisbeing a well-known construction. I 5

The alcohol or-other fuel from reservoir B passes to the heater througha tube 9 lead to flow out through the pipes g, h by admitand Well-known.The nature of the present the therebydetermine the speed at'which the.

In the example shown, air at reduced pres sure is led from duct 03through a tube is to a valve shell-Z, and thence through tubes 70 and 70to the respective vessels. The valve,

shell Z may contain valves of the construction set forth in Patent No.1,022,486.

may be of the construction shown indetail in Fig. 2. The valve Ecomprises a tappet or valve proper m on a stem 11 carrying a piston orplunger 2? for approximately balancing the valve; this plunger moveswlth a close working fit in the cylindrical portion g of the valveshell, and passes therethrough .into the chamber 1', in which theretappet m tends to close the valve, and the eduction pressure (in duct 0)is determined by the stress of thelspring s relatlvel to the unbalancedarea of the valve. he secondary valve F is of the same construction asthe primary valve, except that its sprin s is made adjustable. so as tovary nal pressure fed to the motor and torpedo should be driven. Forthis purpose it has the usual adjusting screw t and means fordetermining the precise adjustment to v be given. I

So far as described the construction is old invention will now be setforth.

In order to make the-working parts of the valves E, F move freely, sothat these valves shall operate with thedesired degree of accuracy, itis necessary to provide an amount of clearance between the plunger .12and its cylinder g which permits a certainleakage of air. In thesecondary valve this leakage is not serious, because the difierencebetween the induction and eduction pressures is moderate (in the examplegiven being only 200 pounds) but with, the primary valve, where eductionpressures is much higher (being commonly above 2000 pounds per square Iinch, the loss of air through leakage around I the-plunger amounts toaconsiderable ,waste of energy. The air loss through this leakagehasbeen found to commonly exceed five per cent. of the total weight ofair stored in the air flask. v

Toavoid this waste is the primary object. of the present invention. Tothis end the spring chamber r, instead of being left open or vventedtothe interior of the torpedo as heretofore, is closed. If no vent weregiven from this chamber the leakage; would quicklybuild up a pressure inthis ichanibe r, which would have the efle'ct'of open ing the tappet mwider andthereby permitting a higher intermediate pressure to pass tothe secondary Valve, a result which would largely defeat the advantageof using two successive pressure-reducing valves, and which, also, wouldbe liable to-have a disastrous effect upon. other parts of theapparatus. To avoid these results the air The pressure-reducing valves Eand F ample given) it results that approximately.

this pressure is caused-to exist in the chamher 1". Consequently, thispressure acting upon the exposed area of the plunger p is added to thepressure ofthe spring 8, tending to open the primary valve. This wouldcause the air passing the primary valveto be delivered at acorrespondingly higher intermediate pressure and to avoid this resultthe spring sis made much weaker than-heretofore, so that the combinedpressure of the spring and the back pressure of air in the chamber 1" isthe same in its efiect upon the primary valve as the pressure of thespring alone in such valves as heretofore constructed. It results fromthis that the air leaking from the primary valve is utilized, while asheretofore.

It is of the utmost importance that-the primary reducing valveshould'function normally so as tochoke down the pressure from that inthe air flask to approximately the uniform pressure atwhich the air isfed to the secondary valve. The air, either at this intermediatepressure or at the final pressure to which it is' reduced by thesecondary valve (and slightly above the pressure in the heater) isconducted through the tubes is, 70 10 to the alcohol and waterreservoirs-B and C. These reservoirsare necessarily of somethedifference between the induction and thereby wrecking the torpedo. It ishighly important to avoid all risk of the happening of such an accident.Such deranged action of the primary valve might result from a. fractureof the secondary valve, that is, the

b reaking of the valve stem connecting the tappet with the plunger, sothat the air vWould-pass freely through the secondary valve. This wouldresult in the air enterthe operation of the primary valve remains undernormal conditions precisely the sameing the heater at nearly thepressure existing in the intermediate duct 0. air pressure would beconducted to the motor and would have the effect of driving the torpedoata higher speed ;,this result would not be seriously objectionable, butanother ensuing result might prove disastrous, namely, that the higherpressure in the heater, bein conducted back through duct u to the chamaer r, would 'add to the pressure tending to open the primary valve, andwould have the result of opening this valve wider, so that the. pressureof its discharge would be increased, This increased-pressure being inturn fed to the heater, would result in a correspondingly increasedpressure in the chamber a", and this in turn would open the inlet valvestill wider, resulting in a still further increased outlet pressure;thus-cumulatively the inlet valve would be opened wider and wider untilit was forced wide open and nearly the full flask pressure-would I bestreaming out through the valve passages and heater. This cumulativeeffect would occur so rapidly as to be practically instantaneous. Thelncreased pressure might destroy the heater and wreck the turbine, butin any event it would shortly be communicated to the fuel and watervessels B and C and would burst one or both of these vesselsv andthereby wreck the torpedo.

To avoid these disadvantages is the object of the second part of theinvention. According to this, provision is made for instantly stoppingany back flow of air from the heater toward the chamber 1'; and forpermitting the escape from this chamber of any pressure materially inexcess of the .normal' pressure therein. The first result is attained byinterposing a check valve in the duct'u. The second'result is attainedby applying a safety valve or blow-ofi' in communication with thechamber 1* adapted'to discharge the pressure when it rises insaidchamber to an amount somewhat in excess of the normal (say, forexample, 500 pounds as compared with'the normal 400 pounds);

In the construction shown a ball check valve '0 is interposed in thepassage 10 so that in case of a back .fiow it will ,seat'agalnst a seatto and close the vessel. Normally it seats against the notched end of aplug to:

so as to afford afree flow around the ball.

The safety valve is shown as a tappet y closing a lateral port in theduct u (or otherwise communicating with the chamber 02 and pressed toits seat by a spring 2 whic reacts against a shoulder in the valve shell4) which incloses it. This spring is constructed to have the requiredstress to hold 7 the valve closed until the release pressure isattained, It results from this construction that in case of a breakageor-other derangement of the secondary valve B so thatthe This increased1 around they plunger, when this pressure reaches that at which thesafety valve opens thefpressure thereupon escapes freely into the airspace within the torpedo. If, for example, the safety valve is set to500 pounds, the pressure discharged from the primary valve will rise a.corresponding amount above the normal (say 600 pounds), or,-for example,to perhaps 800 pounds, but not farther..

The construction may be varied and equivalents substituted, and anynecessary changes to adapt the invention to otherconstructions oftorpedoes may be made without departing from the invention.

What I claim is 1. In an automobile torpedo, the combinat1onw1th asourceof compressed air and a prespressure in 1' builds up, due to leakage.

sure-reducing valve, ofmeans in connection with such valve forconducting leakage of airfrom the high pressure side of such valve to apoint beyond the valve where this leakage can be utilized.

2. In an automobile torpedo, the combinationwith primary and secondarypressurereducing valves, of means in connection-with the pr mary valvefor conducting leakage from the high pressure side thereof to a pointbeyond the secondary valve where such leakage can be utilized.

3. 'In an automatic torpedo, the combina- I tionwith a source ofcompressed air and primary and secondary pressure-reducing valves, and aheater beyond the secondary valve, of means for conducting leakage fromv valve where such leakage can be utilized,

and means for preventing a back flow of pressure into said chamber.

5 In an automobile torpedo, the bombination with a source of compressedair and a pressure-reducing valve comprising a balancing plunger, aspring, and a spring cham- I her, of means for conducting air leakinginto said chamber to a point beyond said valve where such leakage can beutilized and a relief valve for discharging excess of pressure from saidchamber.

6. In an automobile torpedo, the combination with a source of compressedair and a pressure-reducing valve comprising a balancing plunger, aspring, and a spring chamber, of means for conducting air leaking intosaid chamber to a point beyond said signed my name in the presence oftwo subvalve vghere such leakage claim be ugilized, scribing Witnesses.means or preventing a bac flow 0 pressure into said chamber, and arelief valve WILLIAM DIETER' I 5 for discharging excess of pressure fromsaid Witnesses:

chamber. RICHARD BIGGARE,

In witness whereof, I have hereunto JOHN D. MCINTYRE.

